STAFF VIDEOS

Hi, I'm David Muns. I'm a trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling, working under the supervision of Kent Toussaint. I'm also a Master's of Psychology student at Antioch University. I wanted to become a therapist because I wanted to find a way that could help people with my skill set. Read More

Hi, my name is Nicole. I'm a graduate student of clinical psychology at Pepperdine University and an MFT trainee at Child and Teen Counseling in Woodland Hills, supervised by Kent Toussaint. Read More

Hello, my name is Reynee Small. I'm a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling supervised by Kent Toussaint. I'm currently getting my graduate degree in Clinical Psychology at Pepperdine University, and I graduated recently with my undergrad Bachelors in Psychological Science from UC Irvine. I'm originally from Orange County, but I've also lived in Arizona and Connecticut and spent part of my life in Thailand as well. I spent some of my elementary and middle school years there. My mom is half Thai, so I come from a Southeast Asian background. And given that, I know that that is an underserved community. I'm very passionate about working with that community and giving outreach to them for mental health resources and other resources as well. I have some prior experience working with youth. I worked with at -risk youth at a crisis residential center, so ages 12 to 17. I also did research for children with ADHD and ASD looking at canine interventions in the classroom for them. I've also had my own experiences in therapy as a kid given that I know how valuable it can be for kids and their families. I know how much it meant to me and how much I still value that experience today. Some things I like to do for fun, I really love cartoons. My favorite is probably Avatar The Last Airbender, anything in that franchise. I also really love playing video games. Read More

Hey guys, my name is Nathan. I'm a current CSUN MFT graduate student and I'm also a MFT trainee supervised by Kent Tucson at CTC. I wanted to become a therapist because one of my goals was to be someone that people can rely on in their times of need, whether it be a shoulder to lean on, a listening ear, or if all just somebody that they can turn to when they're unsure what to do. As a side note, one of my bigger goals was to be able to shed light on mental health awareness in the Asian community. So me being half Chinese, half Filipino, as I mentioned just being able to spread awareness to not only my own communities but other communities that I'm going to have the pleasure of working with in the near future. Read More

Hi everyone, my name is Jillian Axel. You can call me Jill, whatever floats your boat. I am currently getting my master's at Pepperdine and I am a MFT trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling. So one of the reasons why I ended up in this profession is growing up with dyslexia and ADHD. I spent a lot of hours in language therapy, speech therapy, and as a client myself, struggling with anxiety, and just feeling the stereotypes put upon me kind of created some stigma in regards to just feeling as if I was inadequate and that kind of continued as I went into college and even now I have to, you know, take a second to realize my accomplishments, where I've come from, where I am now and I can't wait to help other kids realize that their options are unlimited just like mine was due to the amazing people and therapists in my life who guided me to be able to figure that out for myself. Read More

Hi, I'm Maya from Child and Teen Counseling. I'm a Marriage and Family Therapist trainee supervised by Kent Tucson. I'm really looking forward to working with children, teens, and adults. I know growing up can be full of many challenges, but also a lot of fun times as well, so I'm really excited to be a pillar of support for you and your family. I graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor's in Psychology, go blue, and I'm currently pursuing my master's at Antioch University in clinical psychology. Growing up in Hispanic households, mental health wasn't something that was necessarily emphasized. I didn't get my first personal therapy until I was in college. For that reason, it's really important to me to bring this opportunity to children and teens who are a little bit younger than I was when I first started my journey with mental health. Read More

Hi there, my name is Katherine McLeod and I'm a marriage and family therapist trainee at Child and Teen Counseling. I'm also pursuing my master's at CSUN and I got my undergraduate degree at UCSB in psychological and brain sciences. So during my time at UCSB is really when I decided to pursue this path to become a therapist. I was taking incredible classes in the psychology department such as psychology and mindfulness that were really opening my mind to this world. And at the same time, I was working as a peer mentor with children, teens, and young adults. So my clients were ranging from age six all the way up to age 24. And these clients had autism spectrum disorder. So what I was doing with them was really working on daily living skills. But what I recognized was just how many conversations were circling back to mental health. And in that, I was able to see just how important these conversations were to all ages, and especially these ages of children, teens, and young adults specifically. What I recognized in myself was just how comfortable I felt with some of these uncomfortable conversations and just how moved and impacted I felt by joining someone on their journey within their own mental health. So it was a really special time for me and I'm extremely excited to be a marriage and family therapist trainee here. So that's a little bit about my path but as for myself I really love to cook so I've grown up cooking with my mom since I was super little and it's something that I find a lot of creativity in. I also love to go outside. So currently I've just picked up playing pickleball which has been super fun. Read More

Hi, my name is Ian and I'm a current Marriage and Family Therapist trainee at Child and Teen Counseling. I got my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Chapman University and I'm currently in the process of getting my Master's Degree from Pepperdine University. A little bit about me, I'm originally from Seattle, Washington where I really grew up with a strong interest in sports and video games and then along with that I also have a strong interest in cooking and anything to do with music. I think I really got into this field specifically because of my own interest in giving back to the community around me. Read More

Hey, my name's Sam Kindseth. I'm a marriage and family therapist trainee here at Child Teen Counseling, and I'm currently a master student at Pepperdine. Some things about me is I love fashion, music, being outdoors, and playing video games. So I entered the therapy field because of my own personal struggles with mental health in the past, and I'd love to be that person for your child or teen that I could've used during those years. Read More

Hey guys, my name is Nathan. I'm a current CSUN MFT graduate student and I'm also a MFT trainee supervised by Kent Tucson at CTC. I wanted to become a therapist because one of my goals was to be someone that people can rely on in their times of need, whether it be a shoulder to lean on, a listening ear, or if all just somebody that they can turn to when they're unsure what to do. As a side note, one of my bigger goals was to be able to shed light on mental health awareness in the Asian community. So me being half Chinese, half Filipino, as I mentioned just being able to spread awareness to not only my own communities but other communities that I'm going to have the pleasure of working with in the near future. Read More

Hi, I'm Olivia. I'm from San Diego, California. I just graduated from UC Berkeley, where I double majored in psychology and gender women's studies. And right now I'm at Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology. I wanted to become a therapist, I think from when I was in high school. I was dealing with my own mental health issues and I felt like I didn't have the resource or the support that I wanted and needed. and I realized that a lot of my friends and my classmates were suffering from mental illness as well, but didn't want to talk about it. And there was such a stigma around mental health. So I created a club in high school where we would have open conversations about mental health. And I think that's kind of where my passion sparked. Read More

My name is Jimmy Barker and I'm a trainee therapist at Child and Teen Counseling, supervised by Kent Tucson. Before realizing I could be useful as a therapist, I've worked across different roles in the creative industries. But I think more importantly, is that I've known suffering and I've known pain. And I've also been part of, and I continue to be part of, healing and incredible relationship with my therapist and I've seen firsthand how I've been able to take more responsibility and self -direction in my life and ultimately I've changed. My practice is really centered around the idea that every person has the ability to direct their behaviors, their attitudes, their relationships and my job as a therapist is really to work to imagine what it might be like to be going through the things you're going through and to build a partnership where we can remove the blocks that are stopping you getting to where you want to be. I use talk therapy, play therapy and creative arts expression therapy. Read More

I knew Child and Teen Counseling was my first choice from the start. I came in and I was like, oh, this feels really good here. I chose Child and Teen Counseling as my practicum site because I see how successful people coming from the site turn out to be. It was the feeling I had when I came here, the people I got to meet and the excitement I felt kind of at a really visceral level about looking forward to being around these people day in and day out. and I really appreciated even the interviewing environment. Everyone was sitting low on the ground together in this well -lit room, and I felt safe there as an interviewee, which made me feel like, oh, this must probably feel good on the side of the clients. For me, I think the most helpful thing was just the community. I think the fact that all the associates and all the trainees were really supportive when I first came in. other trainees, people that were ahead of me and below me, the associates, Kent, Brian, Bennett, Robin, like it's a whole family here. My favorite thing about this place is the tight -knit community. Everyone is very supportive of each other, the staff, supervisors, everyone looks out for each other. Everyone is there to, you know, help each other out and just be there for one another. And that's something I was looking for from the beginning. It really helped me feel comfortable here and it made me feel supported like not just by like oh I have a supervisor I can ask questions but I have like a community of people who can help me. I really wanted somewhere where there was a strong emphasis on supervision. So one thing that I've talked a lot with with the clinical supervisors here about it's just about trusting my gut and my intuition. Doing that I think has really helped me be in the room and be present in a way that's more authentic, that's easier for my clients to connect. We just get a lot of freedom to kind of meet the client where they're at, whatever kind of approach is that we have, and I just really appreciate that. Read More

Hello, my name is Rosie Fiore and I am a marriage and family therapist trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling. I am a native Angeleno and a Total Valley girl. I've actually lived here in Woodland Hills my entire life. So yeah, when I was thinking about what population I wanted to work with as a therapist, I reflected on what the very famous Mark Twain once said, which was write what you know. I think it is Mark Twain that said that. I don't know. Anyway, whomever said it, it really resonated with me. I can still so vividly remember what it felt like being a kid and flooded with conflicting feelings and like a rollercoaster of emotions and all these mixed messages coming at me all at once so quickly and was so hard to decipher the thoughts that were mine or someone else's and influence and knowing what voice to listen to and which one to disregard. Our childhood experiences play a huge role in shaping our self -esteem and how we see ourselves as adults. And as a parent the love we have for our kids is so profound and all we want is the best for them. But then somehow the wires get crossed and there's this communication breakdown and that's why I really enjoy working collaboratively with the whole family so we can figure out ways to communicate better and create more effective behaviors and patterns and ultimately everyone can become the best version of themselves. Sometimes a kid just needs someone to talk to and open up and just hold space for them and it's Read More